TRAIN DERAILS - A 44-car Lake State Railway freight train derailed at about 10 p.m. Friday in Oscoda Township and collapsed the 1913 AuSable River trestle bridge in the process. - Photo by Holly Nelson

AuSable River trestle collapsed by derailment
by Holly Nelson

OSCODA — The historic AuSable River railroad trestle was destroyed Friday night by the chain reaction of a train derailment.

"It was shortly after 10 p.m. I heard just a horrific rumble," said nearby resident Gary Rehberg. "I looked out the bedroom window and all I saw was a cloud of sparks,"
Rehberg and some of his neighbors who also heard the crash, Tom Ruedisueli and Jim Hartman, are all residents of Riverbend Pointe and they all immediately suspected a train derailment.

But, they said, they weren't prepared for what they saw when the sparks and dust cleared — a railroad car dangling on what was left of the railroad bridge, much of which was in the river.

"I wasn't surprised. I said this was going to happen six years ago," Riverbend developer and resident Scott Samotis said after arriving at the scene.

According to Will Gamble, Lake State Railway vice president of operations, the 44-car freight train was enroute to Bay City from Alpena, traveling at the maximum speed of 10 miles per hour, which he says was verified from the train's black box.

When the train moved along the track between Loud Drive and F-41 in Oscoda, the tenth car from the rear jumped the rail.

The only person on the train Friday night was the engineer, who was not injured.

"Sometimes you feel a derailment; sometimes you don't," Gamble said.

This time, however, the engineer was unaware the car had derailed until it hit the trestle.

Preliminary analysis by Lake State determined that the derailed car, as it was pulled across the 150-foot river span, caught the corner of a steel girder, shoving the structure forward and off the corner of the concrete abutment. Then, Gamble said, the weight of the twisting car pulled the entire structure down to the river below, breaking it in half except for the rails.

The badly smashed car was left in the trestle wreckage, precariously hanging over the water, still connected to the nine cars behind it on the north side of the river.

"Sometimes you feel a derailment; sometimes you don't," Gamble said.

This time, however, the engineer was unaware the car had derailed until it hit the trestle.

Preliminary analysis by Lake State determined that the derailed car, as it was pulled across the 150-foot river span, caught the corner of a steel girder, shoving the structure forward and off the corner of the concrete abutment. Then, Gamble said, the weight of the twisting car pulled the entire structure down to the river below, breaking it in half except for the rails.

The badly smashed car was left in the trestle wreckage, precariously hanging over the water, still connected to the nine cars behind it on the north side of the river.

The impact widened the rails on each side, leaving a few of the other cars unstable, but upright.

According to Gamble, only the front 11 cars were loaded, all with cement. The rest — covered hopper cars — were returning after emptying fly ash, a burnt byproduct.

A Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) official was called to the scene immediately after the derailment, Gamble said.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Mike Wells also responded and notified the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Various national security agencies were also alerted.

A company specializing in train derailments arrived early Saturday evening with heavy equipment required to remove the damaged cars and bridge components from the river. The company immediately started work, halting about 8 p.m. after successfully pulling the derailed car from the wreckage. The company again resumed clean-up efforts on Sunday morning.

As for the cause of the derailment, Gamble said there was a slight deviation in the track at the Loud Drive crossing and a minor problem with the equipment.

"While neither one would have caused the derailment by itself, between the two, it caused the car to leave the track," Gamble said.

Gamble is no stranger to derailments.

"In the last year to year and a half, we've had four right here in the area. All were minor in terms of damage and cost. But, whenever I get these calls, my first fear is that it goes into Lake Huron; my second is that it goes here.

"This is the worst since I've been here and will be the most costly in terms of damage," the vice president added. "The insurance company will cover $500,000 plus, but I would expect this will cost much more than that."

As for the bridge itself, Gamble said it is inspected annually by an engineer and last passed inspection in November.

"The reason for the bridge collapse was definitely related to how the derailed car caught it as it started over it," Gamble said.

When the trestle was built in 1913, it was designed to hold three times the weight of the company's heaviest steam locomotive.

Although car weights have significantly increased since then, a fully loaded car is still below the century-old design capacity, he said.

As for the damaged bridge, Gamble says the company will repair it.

"We will replace it with whatever design is most structurally sound," he said on Saturday.

On Sunday, the construction engineers had weighed in and determined the trestle should be replaced with a triple-span I-beam structure mounted on two sets of pilings.

"If I can get the necessary permits on Monday, we should have it up and trains running within one week," Gamble said.

Gamble added he will ask the permit-issuing agencies for immediate action, but he believes they will be cooperative.

"This has a big impact on a lot of people in the area," Gamble said.

According to Gamble, the new bridge will exceed the FRA standards for freight rails and that, despite the addition of pilings, the AuSable River will be more navigable than in the past.

Although the destroyed trestle did not require pilings, the 1800s railroad bridge which preceded it did, as evidenced by the wood posts visible whenever the river is low.

By removing the old pilings and replacing them with smaller structures, there will be a more open channel, Gamble said.

As part of the damage control, Gamble also met with concerned neighbors, answering their questions and assuring them that everything possible will be done to minimize the impact of debris removal and reconstruction. He also said he'd try to do something to ensure that the new bridge does not become the attractive nuisance of the trestle, which for years has been a favorite party spot and diving platform, resulting in trespassing and other problems for the nearby residents.

The neighbors say they appreciate Gamble's willingness to address their concerns and his openness in answering their questions, but they hope this derailment will finally result in federal and state agencies taking measures to prevent future derailments.

"It's a matter of community and environmental safety," Ruedisueli said. "We were lucky this time. The car was empty. What would have happened if it had been full of fuel, cement or some other product harmful to the river; or, if [canoeists] or fishermen had been under the trestle at the time?"

Samotis, who went through this all six years earlier when a Lake State train carrying fly ash derailed a few hundred yards to the south of the trestle, said cleanup resulted in damage to the then new Riverbend development and its roads.

"When I complained, Lake State said, ‘Sue us.' Hopefully things will be different this time around."

According to Gamble, Lake State's purchase of the rail line followed 20 years of neglect. He cited this as the primary cause for the local derailments, but said the number will continue to drop as track repairs are made.

"We replaced 20,000 ties last year between Pinconning and Alpena," he said, including ties in the Loud Drive area where Friday's derailment occurred.

The derailment blocked the river for two days, preventing the passage of boats with anglers, fishing for steelhead.